🚀 go-pugleaf

     Standing under a starry sky, cool rain sliding from his slick body,
Tom Williamson could almost find peace. He experienced no urge to think, no
need to move, no sensation at all but for the gentle drumming of rain
against his impervious, immobile, statue-like body. Tom had been reborn as
a lumbering and mute silvery golem to save his life - such as it now was -
and now found the rain to be very good for his soul. He also found it very
good for discouraging overly accurate low flying pigeons.
     "He's been like that for hours," Dianna Stevens said quietly, looking
out the window of the small house which her mother Mystica - the Mage of
Life, had once owned before her death. The young woman wore a quietly
beautiful mulatto complexion. Almost in counterpoint to that, a recent
encounter with the crystals known as the shards of the Millennium had given
her also to resemble a beautiful and cold destroyer incarnate. Deep within
her heart of hearts, she feared that this would tend to discourage male
attention slightly.
     "At least he's not a great big shiny gnome," muttered Grant Noland,
also looking out the window. As with his friend Dianna, he too had been
touched by a shard which had changed him inexorably. Now Grant's body
seemed to vibrate and resonate with the sounds around it, amplifying them
according to the young man's mood.
     "Grant!" scolded a flame-haired woman next to him. Like the others,
she looked to be an average university age youth and so very different too,
in much the same way that Prem looks like a meat while bearing an
incredible similarity to polymer plastic. Winds played incessantly over the
lovely Sabrina Timor, caressing her and making her hair into a halo of fire
around her head. "He's depressed... and can you blame him?"
     "Can you blame any of us?" shrugged Shyrose Motree, a scowl crossing
her eastern features. Her change had been one of the most drastic and
exotic. Shyrose's face and form suggested possibilities beyond number,
seeming to shift as one viewed her from slightly different angles. There
was still a core around which all possibilities were built, but even that
threatened to shift and change with time's relentless march. "Let's face
it, we're not exactly going to be able to walk down the street without
permanent 'Hurt Us, We're Superguys' signs around our necks."
     "You think that superbeings are going to try to attack us just because
we're different?" asked Kayle Swanson, looking concerned. Unlike the rest,
Kayle's body appeared to be a matter of opinion, a vaguely defined humanoid
cloud of mental energy lit by a faint internal glow. The man's face still
bore his features, though they were abstracted and became ill-defined every
time he moved his head.
     "Superbeings?" asked Shyrose. "Hell(tm) no, I'm talking about romance.
You ever hear the stats on superguys falling in love? You're almost
guaranteed four love triangles, eight betrayals, two tearful funerals over
your beloved's grave, three returns from the dead and one evil clone of
whoever you're currently in love with at the time. If that's not hurting, I
don't know what is."
     Kayle sighed, though no air rushed past his immaterial lips. "I'm
going to go check on Tom," he remarked, slipping out a window and drifting
through the rain to his motionless friend."
     "I'm worried about him," remarked Sabrina, sitting down on a
threadbare couch. Shyrose flopped down next to her, grinning with irony.
     "If anyone can pull him outta that tailspin, Kayle can," she said.
"Remember, he's the one who fixes our heads when they aren't on straight
anymore?"
     "I know." stated Sabrina firmly, pursing her lips. "That's why I'm
worried about Kayle, not Tom."
     "Hunh?" asked Shyrose.
     "I'm worried about him... okay, I'm also worried about Tom... darn it,
what I'm trying to say is..."
     "Who fixes the fixer?" finished Dianna softly, keeping her eyes low.
     "Yes," replied Sabrina, with a nod. "I wish there was something that I
could do for him, but he's just spent all his time these last few days
trying to keep us together and sane. It's almost impossible to approach him
about his own problems."
     "He'll be fine," shrugged Grant. "He always is."
     Dianna withdrew from the conversation to look through the window at
the dark, gloomy scene outside. She watched as Kayle reached his hand out
to touch Tom, then passed it through and into the silvered man,
establishing the only kind of contact either could know. Dianna lowered her
eyes, as though realising that she had been watching something intensely
private.

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              Frobozz Magic Productions Presents

                     Spotlight On...#30

                        The Brat Pack

                      "Calling The Pack"

                       Part One of Two

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Author's Note: You're all clever enough to realise that this takes place
before Aurora #26 so I won't insult you by saying so.

     To Kayle's newly transformed eyes, there were only two types of
matter: 'stuff that wasn't important' and life. Kayle could muster about as
much enthusiasm for things which didn't matter as he could for politics,
the Psychic Friends network or lard-on-the-bottom yoghourt - to wit, none
whatsoever. Although he could pick up and manipulate objects if he truly
wanted to, there was little point to doing so anymore. Kayle could not feel
unliving objects when he touched them, nor judge their weight or know their
textures. His vision had both dulled and sharpened, leaving those colours
which he saw washed out and rendering minute details difficult to see while
at the same time giving him information beyond comprehension on that which
lived, grew and flourished.
     This was why Kayle now reached out to the living, or to Tom at least.
Kayle's lightest touch formed a bond of minds that was frighteningly
invasive and he had withdrawn from the only kind of contact that he could
know to preserve his friends from that. But Tom had few options in
expressing himself beyond clumsy hand gestures or writing in the dirt and
so he welcomed the contact, any contact. Kayle's hand touched Tom's arm and
in that moment two minds were linked.
     <<Hey there Tom,>> thought Kayle, relaxing slightly. <<What's new?>>
     <<I'm learning that birds are good shots,>> replied Tom with a mental sigh.
     <<Maybe you should come inside with us, then? There's a roof and you
know how much trouble birds have getting through that unless they've
managed to digest a little nitroglycerine.>>
     <<And it's warm and dry and has people laughing and talking and
eating, doesn't it? Screw that, Kayle. I'm benched from all that stuff
permanently. I like being out here now.>>
     <<Come on, Tom, I know this is hard...>>
     <<Hard? Hard? I'm a fricking statue in case you didn't notice! That's
a little more than hard, bud. This isn't one of 'life's little tests'. This
is the full three hour, no calculators, forgot to study and I'm writing
this because at least I might get my name spelled right Calc exam of Life
from Hell(tm)!>>
     <<I'm sorry...>>
     <<Yeah, sure you are.>>
     <<I am, Tom. I'm sorry that you're having to go through this and I
wish to Elvis that there was some way you could get your old body back.>>
     <<Yeah, sympathy noted.>>
     <<Tom...>>
     <<What?>>
     <<This is kind of hard for the rest of us too, you know.>>
     <<Yeah, sure it is. At least you guys can feed and swill and feel and-->>
     <<Not all of us, Tom.>>
     There was a pause, as Tom realised what he had said.
     <<Hell(tm), Kayle... I'm sorry... I didn't mean...>>
     <<I know you didn't, Tom, and I know that between us I'm the lucky
one. But I miss those things too.>>
     <<Yeah. Regrets. Why do we have to have so many?>>
     <<That's life, I guess.>>
     <<Yeah. You know what I regret most?>>
     <<What?>>
     <<I never kissed Sabrina. Man, that would've been sweet.>>
     <<Wait... you liked Sabrina?>>
     <<Hey... well... swear you're not going to say anything. I mean I can
tell you about this because there's nothing I can do about it now, but if
this gets out to her... well, just don't let it, okay?>>
     <<Whatever's left of my lips are sealed, Tom. No, I'm just amazed
because... um...>>
     <<No... don't tell me, let me guess. You too?>>
     <<Kinda.>>
     <<How kinda was kinda?>>
     <<Kind of... a lot.>>
     <<Oh jeez, this is rich! We're maroons, aren't we?>>
     <<You can say that again. Now I bet Grant's going to get her. _That's_
going to be what really hurts.>>
     <<Grant?>> laughed Tom, mentally. <<No, no, no. Grant's going to wind
up with some woman named Beckie who plays bingo twice a night and believes
that Elvis is dead.>>
     "What do you think they're talking about?" asked Shyrose, looking out
the window.
      "I wish I knew," replied Sabrina, also looking. "Probably consoling
each other... or maybe getting philosophical about what's happened.
Discussing life's pains... angsting... who knows?"
     <<Okay, okay, try this one,>> said Tom. <<Grant will wind up with an
old bag named Esmerelda who's got warts that make the shape of a little
poodle on her back, hasn't been to a dentist in twenty-five years and
thinks that drool is sexy!>>
     <<Stop, you're killing me!>> laughed Kayle. <<Okay, I've got one for
you...>>
     "The poor guys," whispered Dianna to no one in particular. "I wish we
could make them smile again."
     "Hey, Di, got any more cheese puffs?" yelled Grant from across the
room, where he sat watching this week's instalment of 'Recycled Plot Ideas'
on a small black and white TV.
     "I... yes, I'll get them," sighed the woman quietly, walking into the
cramped kitchen.
     "Hey Grant, you think you should get her to clean the chimney next?"
muttered Shyrose under her breath, as she tossed a pillow into the man's
face.
     "Cut that out," he replied, grabbing the pillow and putting it behind
his head. "And no I shouldn't, there's no fireplace in this house."
     "I _know_ there isn't a chimney here, 'Prince Charming', but you're
still trying to make Di into a Cinder seat, got me?"
     "How can I do that if there's no fireplace?" asked Grant.
     "You stupid little... " growled Shyrose, rising with balled fists.
Sabrina put a light hand on her friend's shoulder.
      "No, let me please," replied Sabrina with a small smile. Shyrose
shrugged and sat back down as the red-headed woman walked over to Grant
with her preternatural grace. Delicately, Sabrina reached down to suddenly
seize the man's shirt collar, pulling his face up to hers. "Listen up,
Grant." she said in a warning voice. "We've abused Dianna's hospitality for
three days now and you're doing your best to make sure to push it right
over the line. So quit acting like a king in his palace, pitch in and
maybe, just maybe, she'll still be our friend when we've decided what to do
next."
     "Are you high or something, 'brina?" asked Grant with a desultory
snort. "Hey Rose, Sabrina's high! Di's going to be our friend no matter
what. You know that, I know that, she's hanging onto that for dear life so
just relax, okay?"
     "These are the last of the cheesepuffs," said Dianna quietly, having
sneaked up behind the two with a bowl. The others turned to look at her
with guilty faces, realising that she had heard all. "I'm... going to my
room to lie down."
     "Dianna wait, please..." said Sabrina, biting her lip as the girl
disappeared into her room.
     "Grant, I just wanted you to know that if you ever need anything,
don't hesitate to call me," said Shyrose as she stood up, her eyes blazing.
"So I can laugh in your face, you little jackwad." She marched off after
Dianna, stomping just enough to let Grant know her feelings.
     "Oh come on, don't tell me that you fall for that," said Grant, first
to Shyrose and then to Sabrina.
     "As a matter of fact, I do fall for that," replied Sabrina evenly.
"Dianna is a sweet, quiet girl who you're taking unfair advantage of. I
want this to stop, now."
     "She likes doing things for us, 'brina. Think about it... she's
keeping us happy. She's the mousy one who didn't have any friends before we
came along."
     "She's also the Numero Uno mage of Death and she could probably send
your soul to Hell(tm) given a little effort. Or are you saying that you
only bother to think about these things when they suit you?"
     "Come on, 'brina. I bet she feels better every time she does something
for us so we'll stay around."
     "Is that why you stay around, Grant?" asked Sabrina, fuming. She had
never known Grant to reach this level of self-devotion and it was fraying
her already frazzled nerves.
     "No," he replied with a small mutter. "I'm just... look, I don't know,
okay Sabrina? She offers, I accept and everyone's happy. I bet she comes
back right now to apologise for leaving, she'll offer us something else and
just for you, we can say no, okay?"
     Sabrina opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by Dianna and
Shyrose entering the room again.
     "Grant?" asked Shyrose. "Dianna's got something to say to you."
     "I told you so," said Grant to Sabrina, with a grin. "Yeah Di?"
     "I..."
     "Go on," said Shyrose, insistent. "Tell him."
     "I... um... just wanted to say... you forgot the dip." Dianna revealed
a jar that she had picked up. Shyrose seemed somewhat triumphant, though
Dianna looked more timid than ever.
     "Dip?" asked Grant. "You don't put dip on cheeseballs! It ruins the
flavour."
     "Um...," said Dianna softly, as she upended the jar onto the
cheesepuffs. "I know..."
     "The hell(tm)?"
     Dianna pointed at the bowl and whispered the words of a simple spell
which sprang to her mind. With a faint rush of spirits, the bowl flipped
over and dumped its contents onto Grant's lap, much to the man's
consternation.
     "Maybe I shouldn't have done that," Dianna whispered quietly to
Shyrose, who shook her head.
     "Of course you should have, Di. Look at him, he's so much _happier_
now that you offered him some dip."
     All heads turned to Sabrina as she slammed her hand down sharply onto
the living room coffee table. A quiet fell over the room.
     "That's it! That's absolutely the last straw," said Sabrina, rising.
     "Hunh?" asked Shyrose, looking confused. "What do you mean, 'brina? It
was just a joke..."
     "Some joke," growled Grant.
     "I'm saying that when Grant's not making Di serve his every will,
along comes you to make her do something else that she just doesn't want to
do!"
     "Sabrina!"
     "I really didn't want to do it..." admitted Dianna, mostly to the
floor. Nevertheless, Shyrose reddened slightly with some shame.
     "The problem is we've been sitting around here, wondering and worrying
about what's going to happen next instead of facing the future like we're
supposed to. The tension's making us surly or bringing out our worst
points... Dianna, thank you for letting us use your house for so long.
You've been a gracious hostess and way too patient with us. But now I'm
going to go home to face the music like I should've when we started to get
like this."
     "Sabrina, wait!" said Grant, standing and sending some of the dip
tumbling to the floor. He quickly sat back down. "Um... maybe I'll just
protest from a sitting position."
     "No, I'm not going to wait Grant," she replied, walking towards the
front door. "I've waited a little too long already and I've got a feeling
that the rest of you have too. Not that it's my decision to make really,
but you've heard what I had to say. I'll be back or call or something. It
depends on how things go."
     Sabrina walked out, closing the door behind her. The others sighed,
trading glances.
     "Di... look..." said Grant, uncomfortably.
     "I'll get you some club soda to get out the stain..." murmured Dianna,
standing and not meeting the man's eyes.
     "No, I didn't mean... oh, would you? Thanks!"
     "Grant!" yelled Shyrose.
     "I mean... no. Look, I've been a parasite these days and I didn't mean
it. There's not much I can say, except sorry."
     Dianna nodded a little, still not meeting Grant's eyes. She rose and
walked lithely back to her room, leaving Shyrose and Grant alone.
     "You think Sabrina's right?" asked Grant, after a long pause. Shyrose
looked at Grant for a moment before shrugging.
     "Could be. Can't tell. Probably."
     "Not waffling much, are you?"
     "You want predictions, you call Jean Dixon. You want my opinion... I
just don't know, okay? We're in unfamiliar territory so we're gonna be
saying 'I don't know' a lot from here on in."
     "Okay," replied Grant, with a sigh. "I'm just going to go change."
     "Yeah," said Shyrose, glancing out the window at Kayle and Tom again.
She tapped her fingers against the sill before making a decision. "I'm
going home."
     Grant stopped mid-rise, toppling back into his seat again. "Shyrose,
you're--hey, I'm getting good at sitting back down--what?"
     "Going home, I said it and I mean it. If worrying about what's going
to happen is what's making us act this way then I don't want it. I'll just
say bye to Di and get on my way."
     "What about me?"
     "I'll say bye to you too."
     "I mean... you guys're leaving me here."
     "Yeah, life sucks sometimes," replied Shyrose. "Seeya."
     Shyrose walked down the hall, leaving Grant behind to sigh and put his
arms on his lap, resting head on them in a position of frustration.
     "When I sit back up," he muttered. "I'm going to need some club soda
for my shirtsleeves too, aren't I?"
***
     Sabrina paused in front of her door, poised to knock. She wondered
exactly what she would say to her parents when the door was opened. For a
moment she considered trying to hide the fact that anything had changed. It
would be easy, wouldn't it? She had but to brush down the bangs to cover
the crystal now in her forehead and carry a fan wherever she went to cover
up the wind that always blew about her. Sure, easy. That deception would
last for about twenty seconds at best.
     "Mom! Dad! Guess what, I'm a superguy!" muttered Sabrina, her hand
still poised to knock. Blunt and straightforward might possibly be the way
to go, but the next obvious question would be how had she become an
enhanced human and answering that question would require all the diplomacy
skills she could summon to the fore.
     "Maybe I can say I got a lingering strain of the Maladroit plague,"
she mused, blowing air past her lips in frustration. No... her overcautious
parents would nearly break themselves getting her tested and retested until
the doctors were satisfied that she wouldn't suddenly decide that it was a
really, really neat idea to go off and help some megalomaniacal master
villain try to take over the world. Her parents tended to worry about
things like that, bless their hearts. More than anything, Sabrina didn't
want to worry them, nor did she want to make them pay for what they
couldn't afford. Her family was very far from rich, and the bills for
metatesting could run very high. Therefore, Sabrina had to come up with
some way to break the news to her parents without worrying them. She needed
a foolproof way to say what had happened. She needed time to think. She
needed the door to stop opening...
     "Sabrina?" asked her mother, looking out at her daughter who stood on
the front stoop. It was late evening and the lighting was dim so she did
not see the differences in the girl. "Sabrina, what're you doing home so
soon? I thought you and your friends were going to be camping all week."
     Sabrina opened her mouth, praying to the gods above that something
brilliant would emerge.
     "I... crystal... superguy... worried... don't I mean... mom?"
     Sabrina made a mental note to blaspheme mightily once the crisis was past.
     "What Sabrina? I didn't catch that," replied her mother, moving to
turn on the outside lights.
     "Wait!" yelled Sabrina, startling her mother who snatched her hand
from the switch as though it was a snake. "Sorry mom... I mean... I have
something to tell you and dad."
     "What is it, dear?" asked Mr Timor, poking his head around the doorframe.
     "Dad, you were hiding behind the door the whole time?"
     "Well of course," replied her father. "You never know when your
daughter's going to unexpectedly drop by and insist on talking with both
her parents outside while they hold the door open, letting in the flies, do
you?"
     "I guess you don't... um... no, that's not what I wanted to say.
Mom... Dad... I have a confession to make."
     Her parents exchanged a look which spoke volumes and one volume in
particular: _Preparing For The Worst: A Parent's Guide To Inventing
Crises_. They leafed through their mental book and opened it to chapter
one.
     "You're pregnant, aren't you?" asked her mother, turning an ashen grey.
     "I'm not even dating, mom..."
     "It was a one night stand?" asked her father, his temper rising. "Who
is this boy? I'll kill him with my bare hands and a shotgun!" His wife
looked at him askance. "Well... I need my bare hands to hold the shotgun,
don't I dear?"
     "There's no boy involved, guys..." sighed Sabrina, wishing that there
was some way to allay their fears aside from handing them a doctor's note
before she entered.
     "Parthenogenesis," whispered her mother. "Oh gods, I read about how
that was happening in the _Schmooze_, but I never dreamed that our
daughter..."
     "We love you, Sabrina, even though you're doomed to a life on the talk
show circuit..." said her father, wiping a tear from his eye.
     "I'm not pregnant!" yelled Sabrina, covering her face with her hands.
"I just absorbed two stones that might've killed me and made me okay again
and that gave me weird super powers that make me look like I'm in the
middle of a windstorm even when I'm inside and I can dance at superspeed
and this isn't how I wanted to tell you at all!"
     "Superguy or not, there's no need to talk to your parents in that tone
of voice." said her father, crossing his arms. Sabrina looked at him in
some confusion.
     "Sabrina... thank you for trying to be tactful with us," said her
mother, smiling a bit. "I know we worry, maybe a little bit too much. But
we know that however this happened, you weren't trying to hurt us, you
dressed warmly when outside and you said no to drugs and alcohol. Please
Sabrina, come inside and tell us what happened?"
     "Thanks mom," said Sabrina quietly, hugging her parents. "Thanks dad.
Thank you both for understanding."
     "You're welcome dear," replied her father, smiling. "If it'll make you
feel any better, I'm sure the numbness of the shock that we felt at what
you said will wear off in ten minutes or so and we'll be scurrying around
the house like chickens with our heads cut off, worrying like the busy-body
parents that we are."
     "It's like nothing's changed," smiled Sabrina. "You guys are the greatest."
     "It's nothing." replied her father.
     "It was that Time/Life series of books on 'Being Eccentric Yet Loving
Parents' that deserves the credit, dear. Without them, we would've just
grounded you until you were thirty and washed our hands of this affair."
     The three wandered inside, closing the door behind them.
***
     There's no loneliness so acute as that of an isolated country house
emptied of people. Solitude is prized by many but it can also be a terrible
thing. One has a distinct feeling that there is no living soul for vast
distances and that the only person who can be depended upon is the self.
For some, this would be paradise. For others like Dianna Stevens, it was a
moment to dwell upon the fact that there is nowhere to 'pop out' and visit,
no one to yell to in a crisis and no one to give comfort when the isolation
reaches its most oppressive. As Dianna sat in her small house and listened
to the lack of life around her, the young woman began to wonder if this
would always be the way of her world. There was always something about her
which would either drive people away or else cause them to ignore her
presence. Her silence, her shy nature, her new station and now, though it
was not new, her being an orphan. The rest of her friends had gone in an
effort to make peace with their parents, leaving her alone with only
ghostly memories of her mother for comfort. Quietly, Dianna began to mutter
words under her breath as she closed her eyes tightly. The words were not a
spell, invocation or prayer.
     "Mother... I miss you so much. I'm so glad that I got to see you one
last time... I hope I go to the same afterlife so we can be together
forever... mom..."
     There was no answer, but then again she hadn't expected one. Dianna
curled up in her chair and was soon asleep, dreaming of the tavern where
she had seen her mother for one brief instant. And somehow the dream
brought a very small, very poignant smile to the girl's lips.
***
[Continued In Part Two]